A New York real estate scion is accused of throwing elbows — literally — in a long-running dispute over his management of the family business.
Great Neck investor Mark Harounian, who has been battling his relatives for years over the family’s valuable Manhattan real estate portfolio, is being sued by both his nonagenarian father and one of his sisters over allegations he “looted” the business to fund lavish personal expenses for himself and several mistresses.
But the feud was kicked up a notch at a recent deposition, his nephew claims.
Jeffrey Homapour, the son of Harounian’s sister Mehrnaz Homapour and one of her lawyers, alleges that his uncle elbowed and pushed him prior to the deposition before shoving a chair and pinning him against a wall. Glen Lenihan, another attorney for Mehrnaz Homapour, claimed to have witnessed the event in an affidavit, which caused the deposition to be delayed.
Harounian and his attorneys strongly denied the allegations and accused Jeffrey of seeking to defame Harounian in front of his community and in The Real Deal.
Harounian claims he did not “traverse the courtroom” to sit next to his nephew, as the affidavit claims, but chose to sit on the opposite side of the room. Harounian said his father’s lawyer then wanted to switch sides, which placed him next to Jeffrey.
By Harounian’s telling, an upset Jeffrey proceeded to grab his briefcase “with apparent frustration” and swing it so that it struck Harounian’s head.
“I was startled and reflexively pushed away in my chair, making contact with Jeffrey,” said Mark Harounian in an affidavit. “I did not ‘assault’ Jeffrey or ‘pin him to a wall’ or ‘elbow him.’”
Mark Harounian’s attorney, William Charron of Pryor Cashman, supported his client’s position in an affidavit and said he was surprised when TRD contacted him for a comment.
Mehrnaz Homapour’s other attorneys are sticking to Jeffrey’s story.
“Our client is undeterred by the unfortunate behavior that transpired and remains confident that she will prevail,” said Terrence Oved, Darren Oved and Glen Lenihan of Oved & Oved in a statement.
The battle over control of the Harounian family’s assets has been the subject of courtroom drama for nearly a decade. When the dispute began, the family owned around 30 Manhattan rental properties valued at $500 million, according to court filings.
In 2015, Mehrnaz Homapour filed suit against her brother, claiming he siphoned millions from the various LLCs that control the family’s properties to buy Picassos, luxury cars and vacations. Homapour sought an accounting of the assets and her interests in them.
She further alleged that Harounian was refinancing properties and either keeping the money for himself or using the proceeds to buy other properties that he purported to own outright.
Harounian claims his sister never participated in the family business, which he says grew from one property worth less than $1 million to 16 companies with 28 properties worth hundreds of millions.
“Every bit of the payments” from the LLCs, Harounian’s attorneys have argued, “constitute Mark’s reasonable compensations as manager.”
In 2018, Mark Harounian’s father, Jacob Harounian, piled on with his own lawsuit against his son, with similar allegations. The elder Harounian claimed his son “looted the family companies with impunity, taking everything he could think of for himself while attempting to cheat his sister and strip his elderly parents of their assets.”
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Mark Harounian’s lawyers denied those allegations in court filings and provided evidence of handwritten approvals indicating that Jacob signed off on Mark’s compensation.
“The operating agreements clearly and unambiguously entitle Mark to the compensation he has received,” said Mark Harounian’s attorney in a filing.
Both cases are still pending.